Calendar mechanism attachment for a watch bracelet or the like

ABSTRACT

AN ELONGATED RESILIENT MEMBER HAVING A PLURALITY OF INDICIA-CARRYING REGIONS SEQUENTIALLY PROVIDED ON ONE SURFACE THEREOF IS INCREMENTALLY MOVABLE PAST A VIEWING STATION. THAT RESILIENT MEMBER HAS THE CHARACTERISTIC THAT AT ANY POSITION THEREOF THE NET FORCE ACTING ON THAT MEMBER IN THE DIRECTION OF ITS MOVEMENT IS EFFECTIVELY ZERO SO THAT THE MEMBER WILL STAY AT ANY POSITION TO WHICH IT IS MOVED. THE INDICIA PROVIDED ON THAT SURFACE OF THE RESILIENT MEMBER MAY BE THE TWELVE MONTHLY CALENDARS OF A YEAR, ONE MONTHLY CALENDAR BEING VIEWABLE AT THE VIEWING STATION AT A GIVEN TIME.

Oct. 12, 1971 M. o, GANDELMAN Erm. 3,511,602

CALENDAR MECHNISM ATTACHMENT FOR A WATCH BRACELET OR THE LIKE Filed May 20, 1969 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 00P/5 D. G/MDELMA/v SAA/,070915 BEM@ ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,611,602 CALENDAR MECHANISM ATTACHMENT FOR A WATCH BRACELET R THE LIKE Morris I). Gandelman, Fort Lee, and Salvatore Bello, Clilfside Park, NJ., assignors to Jacoby-Bender, Inc., Woodside, NY.

Filed May 20, 1969, Ser. No. 826,156 Int. Cl. G09d 3/06 U.S. Cl. --117 6 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE An elongated resilient member having a plurality of indicia-carrying regions sequentially provided on one surface thereof is incrementally movable past a viewing station. That resilient member has the characteristic that at any position thereof the net force acting on that member in the direction of its movement is effectively zero so that the member will stay at any position to which it is moved. The indicia provided on that surface of the resilient member may be the twelve monthly calendars of a year, one monthly calendar being viewable at the viewing station at a given time.

The present invention relates to a mechanism for displaying a preselected one of a plurality of viewing regions at a viewing station, and is particularly directed towards a calendar assembly for attachment or incorporation in a watch bracelet, wristband, and the like.

Calendar watches of the type in which an indication of the month, day and number of the day is provided have long been available. In these watches the date changing mechanism is operatively connected to the timepiece driving mechanism so that each twenty-four hours a new day and number indication is provided in a suitable viewing area on the watch face. The provision of the additional mechanism to drive the calendar indicator substantially increases the complexity and thus the cost of the time piece, and as a result, calendar fixtures are commonly available only on relatively high priced timepieces.

To provide an indication of the date independent of the timepiece mechanism it has been proposed to attach or incorporate a separate calendar into the band or bracelet by which the timepiece is secured to the wrist of the wearer. While the date indication provided in a monthly calendar of this type is not as easily read as is the date indication provided in the calendar watch, it is suiciently convenient and readily read to be useful, particularly in view of the reduced price and complexity of the timepiece and bracelet assembly. The use of such a calendar attachment is thus considered to be a suitable alternative to a calendar watch construction. Moreover, the calendar bracelet attachment devices can be connected to bracelets not associated with timepieces and are thus of wider applicability than timepiece-controlled calendars.

The calendar attachment devices proposed in the past have taken several forms, all unsatisfactory in one or more respects. In one prior art calendar attachment device a container or receptacle is attached to the band and a group of cards, each having a different monthly calendar printed thereon, is stacked in that container. Upon the completion of a month the top card is removed through a slot to expose the card below, which bears the calendar of the succeeding month. This construction is relatively bulky and heavy, and the task of removing the top card from the container each month in view of the small size of the cards, may prove to be a diicult one. To increase the ease of removing that top card the container may be provided with a hinged top cover. This construction, however, adds to the complexity, cost and weight of the attachment. In another prior art calendar device for attachment on a watch bracelet the monthly calendars are printed on a series of metal strips having ears projecting from the edges thereof, which ears are bent over and about the watch bracelet and presed thereon to secure the strip to the bracelet. The user must keep a yearly supply of such strips on hand and must remove the strip on the band at the end of each month and place a new strip in position. The necessity of the monthly replacement of the strips presents a measure of inconvenience to the user and requires that he maintain a yearly supply of such strips at a location at which they can be easily found when needed. The possibility of misplacing the to be used strips is apparent.

In yet another type of prior art calendar device the several monthly calendars are printed on an elongated flexible strip which is moved past a viewing station to selectively expose the desired month to view. Winding and unwinding spools are provided for the strip, and each must be manually movable to permit the strip to be moved, both backwards and forwards. These spools and the exposed knobs used to rotate them take up an appreciable amount of space thereby limiting the space available for the viewing station, add to the cost of the device, complicate the assembly thereof, and make the manipulation 'F of the device quite delicate.

r let combination to the extent that they are uncomfortable to wear.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a calendar device for attachment to a watch `bracelet or the like, which is lightweight, small in size, attractive in appearance, easy to operate, and easy to read.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a calendar device for attachment to a watch bracelet or the like which comprises a minimum number of parts and which is inexpensive of manufacture and assembly and reliable for long periods of use.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a calendar attachment for a watch bracelet or the like, on which monthly calendars for an entire year may be provided in a clearly readable size, and which is of light weight and small size.

In the device of the present invention indicia which, as herein shown, may be in the form of the monthly calendars of the year, is printed on one face of an elongated resilient member carried on a support. That member comprises two spaced end portions and an intermediate portion, the latter extending between the end portions and being located beneath and in registration with a viewing station at which the indicia on that intermediate portion can be viewed. Means are provided to incrementally transfer the resilient member along its length, unwinding from one end portion and winding onto the other, so that a desired section of that member, e.g. that section on which the calendar for the current month is printed, is positioned beneath the viewing station. The resilient member is in the form of a spring having the characteristic that the net force acting thereon in the direction of its movement is substantially zero irrespective of its condition vis-a-vis its end portionsmit acts the same whether substantially all wound on one end portion or on the other or in any condition in between. That is, the forces acting on the spring in the direction of its movement are essentially balanced so that the spring Will remain in whatever position it has been placed. Thus the calendar, for any month presented beneath the viewing station, -will remain viewable in that condition until the spring is moved to a different position correspondng to a new month.

Because the resilient member is essentially rigid in the direction of its length except for its tendency to coil or wind up at its end portions, and because that coiling or winding-up will occur automatically when the intermediate portion of the spring strip is axially shifted in one direction or the other, only a single manually movable driving element need be provided to move the strip in both forward and reverse directions. This alone represents an appreciable saving in cost and space, and permits the use of a larger, and hence more readily manipulated, driving element than would otherwise be possible.

The support and housing for the calendar device comprises three sections, the rst being a stage which supports the spring and provides spaces to receive the wound end portions of that spring. The second housing section is a bottom plate arranged beneath the stage, and the third is a cover shell placed over the stage and bottom plate. The viewing station is preferably provided in the shell. Each of the housing sections has openings formed therein in registration with one another which openings receive therethrough a pin which may also pass through the wound portions of the resilient member. These pins serve to retain the three sections of the housing in a unitary assembly. These housing sections also have a series of slots formed therein in registration with one another to receive a shaft which carries the driving element for incrementally moving the resilient member along its path of movement. As herein specifically described, the shaft carries a set of sprocket teeth which engage sprocket holes provided along the edges of the spring, thereby to produce the desired incremental movement of the spring. A knob secured to one end of that shaft extends beyond the housing assembly and can be manually operated to turn the shaft, thereby to drive the spring to its selected viewing position.

To the accomplishment of the above, and to such other objects as may hereinafter appear, the present invention relates to a calendar attachment for a watch bracelet or the like, as defined in the appended claims and as described in this specification, taken together with the accompanying drawings, in which: Y

FIG. 1 is a top plan view of the calendar attachment device of the present invention shown secured to a watch bracelet;

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line 2-2 of FIG. 4 with a part of the resilient member being broken away to show the interior of the device;

FIG. 3 is a top plan view of the elongated resilient member on which the monthly calendars are printed on the indicia-carrying surface thereof;

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view, on an enlarged scale, taken along the line 4-4 of FIG. l;

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view taken approximately along the line 5-5 of FIG. 4; and

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line 6-6 of FIG. 4.

As shown in FIG. l the calendar attachment device of the present invention, generally designated 10, as disclosed as incorporated in a watch bracelet 12 to which a watch generally designated 14 is secured in any appropirate manner. The calendar device comprises a housing generally designated 16 which is operatively secured to bracelet 12 in a manner described in a later part of this specification. An elongated resilient member in the form of a thin, lightweight tape 0r spring generally designated 18 is arranged within housing 16. Spring 18 has, as shown in FI-G 3, a plurality of indicia-carrying regions 20a-20! here shown as the twelve monthly calendars of the year, sequentially printed or otherwise provided on one surface thereof. A viewing station 22 is defined in housing 16 and one of the calendar regions of spring 18 (region 20c in FIG. l) underlies and is in registration with viewing station 22 and is thus there visible at any given time.

,4 Means are provided to incrementally move spring 18 to expose a new calendar region 20 at viewing station 22 each month so that the calendar indication so provided is the correct one for the then current month.

The two ends of spring 18 are coiled about themselves to dene two spaced, wound end portions 24 and 26 (FIGS. 5 and 6) between which an intermediate portion 28 of the spring extends. Intermediate portion 28 of spring 18 underlies and is in registration with viewing station 22. The monthly calendar indication is varied by shifting the spring 18 in an axial direction (see arrow 18a on FIG. 3) between end portions 24 and 26 to position a different indicia-carrying region at intermediate portion 28 of spring 18. When spring 18 is so moved, a portion thereof is unwound from end portion 24 and wound onto end portion 26 or vice versa, depending on the direction of movement of spring 18.

In a signiticant aspect of this invention spring 18 has the characteristic that the force active thereon along its direction of movement between end portions 24 and 26 is always substantially zero irrespective of the extent to which the spirng is transferred from one to the other of the end portions 24, 26, i.e., the forces active on the spring along that transfer direction are balanced at any position of the spring. A spring having this characteristic is manufactured by the Hunter Spring IDivision of Amtek Corp. of Hatiield, Pa., and is identified by the manufacturer as negator spring. This feature of spring 1-8 caused the spring to remain substantially at rest at nay incremental position to which it is moved. Thus the desired monthly calendar region 20 remains visible at viewing station 22 until spring 18 is subsequently moved.

It is also significant that the spring 18, although tending to coil or wind itself up at its end portions 24 and 26, is axially rigid at its intermediate portion 28, so that a shifting force applied to the spring 18 at any portion and in either direction will cause the spring to axially shift from one end portion 24 or 26 to the other.

Housing 16 comprises a stage generally designated 30 which serves as a support for spring 18. A housing part generally designated 31 is positioned beneath and around stage 30 and a cover shell 32 is placed over and about stage 30 and housing part 31. These three housing components are fitted and secured to one another to form the housing 16 in a manner to be more completely described below. Viewing station 22 is defined in cover shell 32.

Stage 30 comprises a top wall 33 over which the intermediate portion 28 of spring 18 passes, `side walls 34 and 36, and end walls 38 and 40. A pair of ears 42 and 44 extend outwardly and rearwardly from end wall 38 and a similar pair of ears 46 and 48 extend outwardly and forwardly from end wall 40 as viewed in FIG. 2. The spaces between ears 42 and 44, and 46 and 48 respectively accomodate the wound end portions 24 and 26 of spring 18. Cutouts or slots 50 and 52 are respectively formed in ears `42 and 46 and extend inwardly from the ends thereof. Similar slots (not shown) respectively in registration With slots 50 and 52 are formed in ears 44 and 48. Push pins or spring bars 54 and 56 are received within and extend beyond slots 50 and 52 and their respective registering slots in ears 44 and 48, and as shown best in FIG. 2, respectively pass through the wound end portions 24 and 26 of spring 18. A U-shaped channel 58 is formed in top wall 33 of stage 30 and corresponding slots 60 and 62 are formed in side walls 34 and 36 of stage 30 in registration with channel 58.

The means for incrementally moving tape 18 as herein shown comprises a shaft 64 which has a central portion received in channel 58 and has end portions extending through slots 60 and 62 beyond side walls 34 and 36 of stage 30. Shaft l64 is positioned intermediate end walls 38 and 40 of stage 30` and lies beneath intermediate portion 28 of spring 18 in registration with viewing station 22. A first sprocket wheel 66 is fast on one end of shaft 64 and a knob 68 is fast on the other end of that shaft. A second sprocket Wheel 70 is fast on shaft 64 and is located between side wall 36 of stage 30 and knob 68, as seen best in FIG. 4. Each of sprocket wheels 66 and 70 have teeth formed thereon which are adapted to sequentially pass through one of a plurality of spaced sprocket holes 72 formed along the longitudinal edge of spring 18. The manually actuated rotation of knob 68 causes a corresponding rotation of shaft 64 and sprocket wheels -66 and 70 to cause succeeding ones of the teeth on sprocket wheels 66 and 70 to enter into suceceeding sprocket holes 72 in spring 18 to produce the desired incermental movement of the spring and expose a new indicia-carrying region 20 beneath viewing station 22. As seen in FIG. 3, the ends of spring 18 are free from such sprocket holes to limit the overall possible movement of spring 18 between its end portions 24 and 26 and to prevent the complete unwinding of the spring at either of these end portions.

Housing part 31 comprises an arcuate bottom wall 76 shaped to approximately conform to the shape of the wrist, and a pair of side walls 78 and 80, wall 80 being located between sprocket wheel 70- and knob 68. Each of side walls 78 and 80 has a pair of slots 82 and 83 formed therein (only those slots in wall 80 are shown in FIG. 5), which are respectively in registration with slots 5t]` and 52 formed in stage 30. The reduced diameter ends of push pins 54 and 56 respectively pass through the slots 50 and 52 of stage 30 and through slots 80 and 82 of housing part 31. A U-shaped slot 84 is formed in wall 80 and is in registration with channel 58 and slots 60 of stage 30 to permit the knob-carrying end of shaft `64 to be received in slot'84.

Longitudinally extending plates 86 and 88 extend from each end of bottom wall 76 and a pair of walls 90 and 92 extend up therefrom (FIGS. 5 and 6) to produce a pair of openings 94 and `9S (FIG. 2), Openings 94 and 96 may receive appropriate mounting parts of the bracelet 12 and other mounting parts of the bracelet may be secured to walls 90 and 92 by means such as welding, riveting, brazing or the like, thereby to secure the calendar assembly to .bracelet 12.

To complete the construction of the calendar assemlby, cover shell 32 is placed over and about stage 30 and housing part 31 as shown in FIGS. 4-6. Shell 32 comprises side walls 98 and 100, a top wall 102, and end walls 104 and 106, sloping walls 10S-114 respectively extend between side walls 98, 100 and end walls 104, 106, and top wall 102. A U-shaped slot 116 is formed in side wall 100 in substantial registration with slot 84 in side wall 80 of bottom plate 31 and receives the end of shaft 64. Knob 68 extends beyond wall 100 and beyond housing 16 and is thus accessible for manual actuation whenever it is desired to move the spring 18 to a new position beneath viewing station 22. Opening 118-124 are formed in side walls `98 and 100 in respective registration with slots S2 and 54 in stage 30, and slots 82 and 83 in bottom plate 31 into which openings 118-124 the ends of push pins 54, 56 are secured to retain all of the parts in assembled relationship. The push-pins 54, 56 help to retain the wound spring end portions 24, 26 within the end spaces of stage 30 between ears 42 and 44, and 46 and 48, although they are not necessary for that purpose.

Viewing station 22 may be defined by an opening 128 formed in top wall 102` and a transparent window 130 made of a suitable material such as plastic, may be snapped through opening 128 to have its lower surface rest on the upper surface of intermediate portion 28 of spring 18.

In a typical embodiment of the calendar attachment assembly of this invention spring 18 has a thickness of .0012 inch and the printed surface carrying the monthly calendars is painted onto that spring to increase the overall thickness of the spring to .0017 inch. The calendar attachment is thus small in size and relatively light in weight, and is highly suitable for attachment onto a bracelet, watch bracelet or the like.

The housing 16 may be made of a metallic or other appropriate material which is tinished to conform to the decorative scheme of the bracelet to which it is to be attached. The spring may be moved in either direction between its end portions so that the calendar of an earlier month may be exposed at viewing station 22 when desired. The movement of the spring is easily achieved by the manual operation of a single external knob for movement in both directions. As the ends of the spring contain no sprocket holes the complete unwinding of the spring from either of its end portions is prevented.

Upon the completion of a year, .shell 32 is removed from housing 16 and spring 18 is removed and replaced with a new spring on which the monthly calendars for the new year are printed.

While the means for incrementally moving the spring has been specifically described :as a shaft having two sprocket wheels engaging aligned sprocket holes in the spring, only one such sprocket wheel may be provided or if two sprocket wheels are employed, their teeth as well as the sprocket holes in the spring may be staggered to achieve a smoother movement of the spring. Moreover means other than sprocket wheels may be employed to move the spring to its desired position with respect to the viewing station.

While only a single embodiment of the present invention has been herein specically disclosed, it will be apparent that many variations in addition to those suggested above may be made thereto without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

We claim:

1. A calendar attachment for a wrist watch bracelet or the like having a viewing station for selectively displaying one of a plurality of indicia-carrying regions, said attachment comprising an elongated member having said plurality of indicia-carrying regions on a surface thereof, a base over which said elongated member passes with said surface exposed, a pair of spaced sidewalls extending from said base and each having at least one opening therethrough, a bottom shell, including spaced sidewalls each having at least one opening therein, and a cover member having a window portion overlying said exposed surface of said elongated member and dening said viewing station and having spaced sidewalls each with at least one opening therein, said sidewalls being arranged in two sets of adjacent walls with said openings registering, pin means extending through said openings, thereby to retain said base, said bottom shell and said cover member assembled, and means operatively connected to said elongated member for moving it relative to said base so as to bring a selected indicia-carrying region into registration with said viewing station.

2. The calendar attachment of claim 1, in which said elongated member comprises a pair of spaced coiled end portions and an intermediate portion extending therebetween, at least one of said end portions being in registration with said openings and said pin means passing through said coiled end portion.

3. The calendar attachment of claim 2, in which each of said side walls is provided with two spaced openings, one on each side of said viewing station, thereby to` define key sets of registering openings, each set in registration with a different one of said coiled end portions of said elongated member, said pin means comprising two pin elements, one extending through one set of openings and one coiled end portion and the other extending through the other set of openings and the other coiled end portion.

4. The calendar attachment of claim 1, in which said elongated member has the characteristic of resiliently coiling onto itself at said end portions thereof and is adapted to be incrementally transferred in a direction along its length from one of said end portions to the other and also having the characteristic that its net force in the transferring direction is substantially zero irrespective of the extent to which said member is uncoiled from one of said end portions and onto the other.

5. The calendar attachment of claim 2, in which said elongated member has the characteristic of resiliently coiling onto itself at said end portions thereof and is adapted to be incrementally transferred in a direction along its length from one of said end portions to the other and also having the characteristic that its net force in the transferring direction is substantially zero irrespective of the extent to which said member is uncoiled from one of said end portions and onto the other.

6. The calendar attachment of claim 3, in which said elongated member has the characteristic of resiliently coiling onto itself at said end portions thereof and is adapted to be incrementally transferred in a direction along its length from one of said end portions to the other and also having the characteristic that its net force in the transferring direction is substantially zero irrespective of the extent to which said member is uncoiled from one of said end portions and onto the other.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 4/19161 Sherman 40-117 7/1930 Fairey 40-117 7/1930 Fairey 40-117 3/1951 Venters 40h86 5/1956- Serge 40-86 3/1959 Jagger lOl-20 l/l969 Heine 40-86 10/19619 Huber 40-107 FOREIGN PATENTS 7/ 1953 France.

15 ROBERT W. MICHELL, Primary Examiner I. H. WOLFF, Assistant Examiner 

